Getting to the Net

The whole point of cell phones is that they can detect a signal near them than can be used to connect your call to the people you are calling.  I know just about zero concerning the technology involved or the possibilities and limitations.  I had never thought of the possibility that a cell phone could connect a computer to the internet.  The first I heard about was in the last of the Millennium trilogy by Steig Larsson, "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest".  I realize that getting technical information from fiction might not be the best way but it has helped me before. 

So, I stopped in the wireless section of our local Wal-Mart to get ideas from the salesclerk on cell phones.  We pay a hefty fee monthly to rent a small USB device that allows our netbook to connect to the internet even while we are in the car and moving.  We do have a GPS but we don't use it.  I got scared off by the warning on the box about components inside known to cause cancer.  It seems quite possible that my old cell phone has the same or similar components but I haven't looked into that.

The salesclerk told me about up-to-date cell phones and not just smart phones, either.  What with the equipment we already have, and the hours I spend using it, I am cautious about further immersion in computers and connections of any kind.  I am interested in saving money though and maybe, like getting rid of landline phones, I will save by having a phone that connects our machines to the internet. 

The clerk showed me a phone that she said was very popular and could connect 5 computers to the internet simultaneously.  Then, she also showed me a newer phone that had just come out. It  was a better phone but that it was not known yet.  The more popular version was in high demand.  She casually dropped the notion that whenever people get interested in a product, the strength of their desire for it rises sharply if they are told they can't have it.  Thus, the unmet demand for the better known phone.

In a similar way, tv is getting modified so that many internet activities can be performed on the television set, such as looking at web pages and downloading and viewing movies.